"Hisser Commander," Schmidt replied without hesitation: "The headquarters must transfer immediately, otherwise when the Russian tanks rushed over, we would not be able to transfer again."
"Transfer, that's for sure." Paulus asked in a slight silence: "But in a hurry, where should our headquarters be transferred?"
"Gumlak area, Commander." Schmidt replied: "There is convenient transportation there, we can transfer the Army Command there..."
Unexpectedly, before Schmidt could speak, Paulus's face turned red with anger. He interrupted Schmidt impatiently: "Chief of Staff, have you forgotten that not long ago, the Russians attacked Gumlak Station with their new rockets and destroyed the large amount of supplies we stocked up there. Now that you have asked me to transfer the headquarters there, do you want me to be a Russian target?"
Schmidt was also confused when he was scolded. He didn't know what he said wrongly, but he actually made Paulus angry. After hearing Paulus's words, he understood what the other party was worried about and quickly explained: "Commander, it was a complete accident that Gumlak Station was attacked by the Russians. Now the buildings at the station have become ruins and are no longer the target of Russians' attention. If we transfer the headquarters to a nearby small town, we will not attract the special attention of the Russians."
"So that's how it is." After hearing Schmidt's explanation, Paulus knew that he had blamed the other party by mistake and said a little embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, Chief of Staff, I'm too impulsive, please forgive me!"
This was the first time Schmidt heard Paulus apologize to him, and quickly waved his hand and said, "Mr. Commander, it's not right that I'm right. I didn't say it clearly, so you misunderstood. Now that time is tight, we should transfer it quickly."
"Wait a minute, Chief of Staff." Paulus had calmed down at this moment. He frowned and thought for a while when he heard Schmidt's urging to transfer, and then spoke: "If the entire army command was transferred to Gumlak, it would probably be noticed by the Russian scouts, and we would be in danger at that time."
Schmidt felt that Paulus was justified and asked him for instructions: "Sir, Commander, what should we do?"
"Take the command part into two parts," Paulus walked to the wall and pointed to the map and said to Schmidt: "You and I will take the communications and intelligence departments of the headquarters to move towards the Gumlak area. The rest will be transferred to a new location near the Lower Chil River to confuse the Russians' scouts."
Schmidt felt that Paulus's arrangement was a bit unnecessary, but considering the other party's identity, he could only pinch his nose and admit it: "Yes, Commander. I immediately arranged personnel and took some of the command members to the Lower Chil River to establish a new command to distract the Russians."
Half an hour later, the convoy led by Paulus and Schmidt moved towards the Gumlak area. Another command convoy preparing to go to the Lower Chil River was arranged to set off in an hour.
When the soldiers in this army responsible for attracting the attention of the Soviet army were busy loading various equipment and supplies, a dozen Soviet reconnaissance team appeared nearby. This team came from Rokosovsky's Don Front Army, and led a second lieutenant named Qiu Liening.
Seeing the busy scene of the German headquarters, he realized that the Germans were about to run away and quickly ordered a corporal beside him: "Comrade Corporal, take a soldier to capture a prisoner."
"Comrade Second Lieutenant," the corporal was Qiu Liening's old subordinate, and knew him very well. After hearing this order, he asked tentatively: "Are you planning to grab a tongue and figure out where the enemy is going to move?"
"That's right." Seeing that the corporal guessed his intention, Qiu Liening nodded at him and replied, "Don't catch any ordinary soldiers. They must not know where the headquarters is going to move. If you want to catch, you must at least catch a second lieutenant or an officer with higher rank to come back."
The corporal was an old scout. It was just a piece of cake for him to touch sentries and capture prisoners. In particular, the German headquarters was busy moving, and there were chaos everywhere, one or two people were missing, and they would not be noticed at all. He took a soldier and quietly approached the German officers and soldiers who were carrying supplies to the truck, looking for a good opportunity to capture prisoners.
After waiting for about ten minutes, he saw an officer wearing a big brimmed hat walking out of the busy crowd and walking towards the place where he was hiding. The corporal hiding behind the big tree thought he had been discovered by the other party, put his fingers on the trigger, and was about to find something was wrong, so he immediately fired. But after observing for a while, he found that the other party did not yell, but was a little carelessly towards his position, as if something was wrong.
The officer came to the big tree where the corporal was hiding, stopped, turned to face the busy soldiers, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and after lit the match, he began to suck the clouds and sniff the clouds.
When the officer found out that he had come here to smoke, the corporal breathed a sigh of relief and made a gesture to the warrior hiding behind another tree, indicating that he would make some noise to attract the officer's attention. The warrior who understood it immediately bent down and picked up a piece of soil and threw it at a distance.
The sound of the soil falling to the ground attracted the attention of the officer. He walked in the direction where the sound came. While walking, he looked down at the ground, trying to see clearly what was making the sound.
The corporal hiding behind the tree saw that the officer's attention was drawn away, and suddenly rushed out from behind the tree, raised the butt of the submachine gun, and hit the back of the officer's head hard. The officer who suffered a heavy blow did not even hum, and fell to the ground like a broken sack. Seeing that the officer was knocked unconscious, the corporal quickly stepped forward with the soldiers, raised his hand and raised his foot, and ran towards the place where the reconnaissance team was hiding.
Qiu Liening, who was hiding in the distance, saw the corporals and the others running towards their hiding place. He guessed that they must have captured the prisoners, so he ordered two soldiers to come and pick them up.
When the corporal came to Qiu Liening, he couldn't help but say proudly: "Comrade Lieutenant, look, I've captured a living person for you. If you want to know, just ask him."
Qiu Liening glanced at the tongue he caught back. It turned out to be a lieutenant, so he ordered the soldiers next to him: "Wake him up!"
The soldier grabbed a handful of snow from the snow and rubbed the officer's face hard. After a moment, the prisoner woke up. Seeing the prisoner open his eyes, the soldier nodded at Qiu Liening, "Comrade Lieutenant, he is awake."
Qiu Liening looked at the German lieutenant who was in a panic and asked in German: "Your name, position and rank!"
"Bert, Lieutenant Bert." The German lieutenant looked at the gun pointing around him and replied hurriedly: "I am the combat staff member of the Operations Department of the Group Army."
Seeing that the German lieutenant answered so readily, Qiu Liening nodded slightly, and said with a smile on his face: "Very good, Lieutenant Bert, your answer is very satisfying. Next, I hope we can continue to cooperate!"
"How do you want to cooperate?" asked Lieutenant Bert, who was still in shock.
"My question is very simple." Qiu Liening asked to the convoy that was ready to go in the distance, "Tell me, where is this convoy going?"
Lieutenant Bert was still hesitating whether he should tell the Russians in front of him what he knew. Then he heard the sound of pulling the bolt from behind him, and then a cold, hard muzzle was pressed against the back of his head, and then a Russian sentence that he couldn't understand came: "If you don't say it, you'll kill you!"
Qiu Liening waved his hand to the corporal who threatened Lieutenant Bert with a gun and said, "Okay, comrade Corporal, don't scare him. I believe he will tell me the answer I want to know."
Feeling the muzzle on the back of the head moved away, Lieutenant Bert felt like he was escaping from death. He quickly replied in a panic: "Lower the Chil River, we were ordered to move towards the Chil River. As for where to move, my level is too low to know."
"Comrade Lieutenant," the corporal also knew some German. He heard Lieutenant Bert's confession that the German command was moving down the river Chil, and quickly reminded Qiu Liening: "We should report this news to the Front Command immediately."
"You are right, comrade Corporal." Qiu Lienning agreed with the words of the corporal. He quickly ordered the radio operators who followed him, "Immediately send a report to the intelligence department of the Front Command, saying that Paulus's Army Command will move to the Downward Chil River, and report the specific location after we complete the reconnaissance."
Five minutes later, Malinin received the information sent back by the scouts. He came to Rokosovsky's office and handed over the telegram in his hand, and reported: "Comrade Commander, according to the scouts' report, Paulus's headquarters is moving towards the Lower Chil River."
When Rokosovsky took over the message, he asked casually: "Where will Paulus' new command be located on the Lower Chil River?"
"We have no way to know this yet." Malining shook his head and said, "The German staff officer caught by the scouts is too low, and only knows that the command will move down the River Chil, but the specific location is unknown."
According to Rokosovsky's plan, after confirming the location of the German Command, a rapid column was sent to carry out an assault. Even if Paulus could not be captured or killed alive, it could completely disrupt the opponent's command system. Who knew that he would be slower or slower, and the German command had already been transferred.
After quickly browsing the contents of the telegram, Rokosovsky looked up and said to Malining: "Chief of Staff, let the Minister of Intelligence call back to the scouts and let them follow the transferred German convoys to operate. It is necessary to find out the specific location of the German command."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." The chubby Chief of Staff Malining nodded and agreed, then turned around and walked out of the office, ready to convey Rokosovsky's latest order to the Minister of Intelligence.
Thanks to book friends: l599xl, Judgun Gundam for his reward support!
Chapter completed!